I've been working away on the West Pier Song Cycle (I promise I'll come up with a better name eventually!) and wanted to share one of the short motifs here. I've been calling this one the 'morse code' motif...you can see for yourself why!
I hadn't intended to use literal maritime references like morse code when composing but I visited the Maritime Museum in Dún Laoghaire and the reference snuck in there without me realising. It's a beautiful museum, the jewel in the crown being an incredible big light house bulb that spins slowly on the alter (the museum is in a deconsecrated church).
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The lyrics, which are just a rough draft at the moment are:
An grian mar gealt sa spéir
Na tonnta ag teacht i mblá Na clocha dlúth faoi mo chosa
Which translates as:
The sun like a lunatic in the sky
The waves blooming The stones solid (or dense) under my feet
I'm not completely convinced by the word 'gealt' yet. Using a word associated with the moon to describe the sun doesn't quite sit right but at the same time I want a descriptive word that's a bit manic, something like intense, incredible, awesome...
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I think the song cycle might wind up having a combination of Irish and English lyrics in different parts. I've been listening to a lot of lyrics in Irish lately because I'm singing some Irish lyrics on another project (I'll tell you all about it when there's a release date) and so, just like the maritime references, it snuck in there. I've translated songs into Irish before but I don't think I've ever written a song in Irish from the beginning before so it's a new challenge.
At the moment I have a few short motifs like this one that relate to each other in different ways and I've been mapping them out on the pier to mark where they'd occur in the song cycle. It's a beautiful sunny day right now so better get going, the pier's calling!
At the moment I have a few short motifs like this one that relate to each other in different ways and I've been mapping them out on the pier to mark where they'd occur in the song cycle. It's a beautiful sunny day right now so better get going, the pier's calling!
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